Milwaukee Bucks superstar center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won his second MVP award in his third NBA season of 1971-72. The former UCLA star, who led the Bucks to their first NBA title the season prior, dominated on both ends of the court for Larry Costello’s Bucks squad. Kareem scored prodigiously, putting up 34.8 points per game, over six-and-a-half points per game more than the second-place scorer, Nate Archibald. Abdul-Jabbar added 16.6 rebounds per game and 4.6 assists per contests, both career-highs at the time. Kareem led the Bucks to a 63-19 record and the Midwest Division title, advancing in the playoffs to the Western Conference Finals, where the Bucks fell in a hard-fought series to a Lakers team that executed a 33-game winning streak during the regular season, a record across all major American sports. Across 11 games in the playoffs, Abdul-Jabbar led all scorers with 28.7 points per game and 18.2 rebounds.

Kareem won the Most Valuable Player award in a landslide, accumulating 81 first place votes compared to the 44 and 36 received by the second and third-place finishers, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain. Offered here is the very 1971-72 Maurice Podoloff Trophy received by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This trophy measures 46 inches tall and stands on a tiered 13 x 13-inch base. A placard on the upper tier reads “Podoloff Trophy / 1971-72” while a placard on the bottom reads “National Basketball Association / Most Valuable Player / Kareem Abdul-Jabbar”. A statuette of a basketball player standing on a gold cylinder is placed atop the upper tier of the base. Four columns support a wooden plinth at the top of the trophy. The plinth is topped with a trophy cup supporting a basketball player statuette. Four smaller statuettes are located on each corner of the plinth. This historically significant trophy is accompanied by a LOA signed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

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